IQLS International Laboratory Specialist Dr. Shruti Malik is participating in the World Microbe Forum 2021 on behalf of IQLS, and presenting a poster entitled “Strengthening Laboratory Biosafety in Liberia during the COVID-19 pandemic under the Global Laboratory Leadership Programme.”

The poster addresses the key themes of strengthening laboratory biosafety in Liberia achieved through three national trainings conducted between September 30 – October 22, 2020, training a total of 67 laboratory professionals from all across the country, including participants from human, animal, food safety and environmental laboratories.

The overarching goal of the trainings was to deliver a comprehensive package for laboratory biosafety in the context of SARS-Cov-2 covering the entire life cycle of a sample; and equipping the laboratory workforce with the skillset needed to confidently handle the pathogen.

The trainings employed a mixture of didactic component; along with practical exercises for risk assessment, hand hygiene, donning & doffing PPE and group discussions to put theory into practice, enabling better retention of concepts. Pre and post tests were organized, showing significant improvement of 34.5% in the performances following the training.

The World Microbe Forum 2021 is a joint scientific meeting that unites the microbial sciences community with the leadership of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS), bringing together two of the biggest meetings in the microbial sciences – ASM Microbe 2021 and FEMS2021 – under one digital platform to further science and help answer important questions.

The forum is being held from June 20 to 24, 2021 and the poster can be viewed here:
https://wmf2021-asm.ipostersessions.com/?s=A3-D3-D6-08-F1-F3-E2-3A-89-B9-E7-3A-B9-96-BF-34